The Russo-Turkish War of 1877â€“1878 had its origins in the Russian goal of gaining access to the Mediterranean Sea and liberating the Orthodox Christian Slavic peoples of the Balkan Peninsula (Bulgarians, Serbians) from the Islamic-ruled Ottoman Empire. These nations delivered by the Russians from the centuries of Ottoman rule regard this war as the second beginning of their nationhood.

The Russoâ€“Ottoman War of 1828â€“1829 was sparked by the Greeks' struggle for independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Convention of Akkerman (1826).

The Russoâ€“Turkish War of 1676â€“1681, a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, caused by the spreading Turkish aggression in the second half of the 17th century. After having captured and devastated the region of Podolia in the course of the Polishâ€“Turkish War of 1672â€“1676, the Ottoman government strived to spread its rule over all of the Right-bank Ukraine with the support of its vassal (since 1669), Hetman Petro Doroshenko. The latterâ€™s pro-Turkish policy caused discontent among many Ukrainian Cossacks, which would elect Ivan Samoilovich (Hetman of the Left-bank Ukraine) as a sole Hetman of all Ukraine in 1674.

Russoâ€“Turkish War of 1735â€“1739, a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, caused by intensified contradictions over the results of the War of the Polish Succession of 1733â€“1735 and endless raids by the Crimean Tatars. The war also represented Russia's continuing struggle for the access to the Black Sea.